


Hero

by GoldenAurora



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-16
Updated: 2013-11-16
Packaged: 2018-01-01 17:34:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1046622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoldenAurora/pseuds/GoldenAurora
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>Hero</em> would never be a word used to describe him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hero

**Author's Note:**

> Meant to be Golden Swan, but I supposed it doesn't necessarily have to be. Based on a one word prompt, "hero," and hopefully the beginning of a series of drabbles written in the same manner.

_Hero_ would never be a word used to describe him. He'd begun life as a small, worthless man and seemed destined to leave it a lonely, reviled villain. Misery, anger, and desperation had been his cold companions even before the dark dagger bore his name. And after, power twisted his soul while he in turn spent centuries twisting the world to fit neatly into the palm of his hand. Beast and benefactor, king and creator, devil and destroyer - he fulfilled the whims of others simply to meet his own purposes. No matter the cost, the deck would be stacked and the pieces played as he desired.

But Emma - ah, the golden-haired Savior herself! She was outspoken, sarcastic, and broken in more ways than one, but she was tenacious and compelling and a flame in the dark cave of his heart. The static of her power crackled in the air and tingled along his skin, and combined with the backing of her ever-true and royal pedigree, she couldn't help but be the very embodiment of all the legends of old.

He'd written her name until the blood came, breathed her in before birth and carved the idea of her into his inevitable future; he'd have done just as well had he filled the scroll with _salvation_ , for she was both conqueror and christ combined. She never asked or expected him to change, merely accepted him as is regardless of the end it might bring them to. Master and maker, protector and preserver, divine deliverer - just looking into her eyes eclipsed all oppressive darkness and poured meaning back into his life. Stars burned bright and the cosmos exploded around him; from their very first meeting he knew she was destined to become his religion, his dogma, and his true north.

No, he'd never be the hero of anyone's fairytale, but every time she favored him with a glance or blessed him with a smile, he couldn't help but hope to be better so that perhaps, one day, she just might come to think of him as one.

Fin


End file.
